COVID-19

Columbus Coroner Buddy Brian’s Experience with IACT Health

February 16, 2021 By Amy Sloan

COVID-19 is a virus that is continuing to impact ALL of us every single day. There is so much uncertainty surrounding this virus, and many of our front-line workers go to their jobs every day to face the unknown.

This is exactly what happened to Muscogee County Coroner, Eddie “Buddy” Brian. Brian’s story starts with what, for him, is very normal. On December 15th Buddy went on two death call assignments. On these assignments, Mr. Brian was directly exposed to COVID-19 by both families. His wife insisted that he get tested, and on the 17th of December, Buddy Brian tested positive.

Buddy planned to do his 10 days of isolation with his wife, who also tested positive, and dog and ride out the virus in peace. However, as Mrs. Brian got better Buddy began to go on the decline. Buddy says he would “wake up every morning and thank God [he] was still alive.

This is when Buddy turned to IACT Health.

IACT Health is Columbus, Georgia’s local medical research clinic and at our clinic, we are dedicated to “revolutionizing research and changing lives.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, IACT has been offering free rapid testing, vaccine trials from Pfizer as well as Novavax, but what we also offer is COVID-19 treatment. This is what Buddy Brian called a “life-changing experience.”

Before Mr. Brian enrolled into our trial, he genuinely did not know if he was going to make it. His doctors wanted to admit him to the hospital and put him on a ventilator. Instead, Buddy went through Regeneron’s IV infusion “cocktail” with us at IACT. He says that the next morning he could “see light at the end of the tunnel, not the death light but the life light” and every day he got better and better.

Mr. Brian does not deny that he still struggles with the residual effects of this virus. He has lung damage that his doctors are working hard to remedy, and he still gets winded on occasion. However, he believes that without the care from the IACT team he fully believes that he would have just become another statistic. He now has so much more energy and he is back to living a relatively normal life.

Mr. Brian says that he can see how people can die from this virus, and he would now preach to his friends to go through our programs. He encouraged his friend to go through our vaccine program because there is so much difficulty getting access to approved vaccines in the community.

Riding in Cars With Researchers – Vaccine Trials Paused

October 19, 2020 By Amy Sloan

Several COVID vaccine trials have been placed on pause or temporary pause. Let’s discuss that.

I’m Dr. Jeff Kingsley and welcome to another edition of Riding in Cars with Researchers. I’m on my way to the office right now to review COVID-19 charts. The AstraZeneca trial vaccine trial was placed on a pause a short while back, and then that pause was lifted in several countries. And more recently, Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine candidate has been placed on a pause.

I’ve seen a lot of press somewhat sensationalizing the issue. I want to make sure that you understand that placing a trial on pause is a great thing. It’s precisely how the process is supposed to work. You’ve heard me speak many times about the number one thing we pay attention to is patient safety followed by what’s called data integrity. Patient safety is self-explanatory – making sure that our patients are safe. Data integrity means making sure that the data is worth something, making sure that it’s accurate, and that it has some scientific value. Otherwise, it’s not worth doing.

The fact that these trials got put on hold should be evidence to you that these companies are maintaining their ethics. It should be evidence to you that they are not putting profit ahead of patient safety. These trials cost billions of dollars. Putting a trial on a pause costs these companies a tremendous amount of money, which is evidence that they’re doing the right thing.

The fact that these trials are going on pause in the midst of a pandemic and in the face of political pressure to keep the trials going is, again, evidence that these companies are staying true to their ethics. Put the trial on pause, let the scientific community take a look at what’s going on, and verify whether or not it’s still the right thing to do to proceed with those trials.

Anyway, just wanted to express my thoughts. I see this as a very good thing, and I hope it gives the public some reassurance that there are ethical people leading these trials.

Thanks for riding along!

Send me topics you want me to talk about at jeff.kingsley@centricityresearch.com!

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Riding in Cars With Researchers – Do I have COVID-19 or the Flu?

October 12, 2020 By Amy Sloan

How will you know if you have the flu versus COVID-19 this Autumn?

Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Riding in Cars with Researchers. I’m Dr. Jeff Kingsley. Let’s talk about flu versus COVID-19. Bottom line….you won’t. There is such a tremendous overlap, even in the core symptoms of flu and COVID that telling the difference by symptomatology would be rough. And then frankly, COVID presents in people differently; even people in the same family with remarkably different symptoms. And so what that means is we’re going to have to test you for both all season long, because we won’t be able to tell the difference by symptoms alone.

Now you could say, “Well, I’ve got either influenza or COVID so I’m just going to hunker down in my home, regardless”. The treatments that we use for both are different. Your ability to participate in research is different. The guidelines regarding quarantine are different. And so I think the best course of action is to be tested for influenza A and B and to be tested for COVID-19 and let that guide your decisions, your length of quarantine, your treatment options, your research options. It’s going to be a long autumn and winter.

Thanks for riding along!

Send me topics you want me to talk about at jeff.kingsley@centricityresearch.com!

Subscribe to our blog HERE

REGN-COV2 Being Studied at IACT Health in Columbus

October 9, 2020 By Amy Sloan

A new drug from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals called REGN-COV2, administered to President Donald Trump after his positive COVID-19 diagnosis, is now being studied in Columbus at the IACT Health research facility.

In the medical research world, this new treatment in the fight against COVID-19 is being called an “antibody cocktail.”
According to IACT CEO and leading medical investigator Dr. Jeff Kingsley, the drug is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies (REGN10933 and REGN10987).

“The antibody cocktail is interesting because what we are looking at is not only being able to bind up the spike protein so that COVID can’t enter your body, and if it is in your body, can’t enter additional cells in your body. But we are also looking at ways to improve your immune response at the same time,” Kingsley said.

There are a couple of requirements before being admitted into the study. “You have to be over the age of 18, you have to have proven COVID-19, and you have to have a symptom onset in under roughly seven days,” Kingsley said.

This clinical study is different from studies that IACT has conducted in the past in regards to a vaccine for COVID-19. There is no limit to how many patients can be enrolled. But patients will be monitored for some time following the administration of the antibody treatment.

Kingsley said there is an opportunity for patients who enroll in the study to involve their families as well.
“We have a sister study going along with it, the exact same antibody cocktail that could be given to that person’s family members or household contacts to try to prevent them from catching COVID-19 from the person who got the diagnosis in the first place,” Kingsley said.

Kingsley said that the more patients who enroll, there is a higher likelihood of speeding up the process and sending the medical research information collected to the FDA for approval so this antibody treatment can be available to the masses.

The White House recently denied the FDA’s stamp of approval for those vaccines for safety concerns. Kingsley said it’s likely we won’t see anything until some time after the presidential elections now.

Watch the interview: https://bit.ly/3iKUQEg